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A Below Average Rays Fan Blog

40 Rays players arrive to camp early on Monday

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Joey Wendle was one of 40 Rays’ players to arrive at camp early. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

On Monday, 40 Tampa Bay Rays’ players arrived at camp in Port Charlotte — two days before the first official workout of Spring Training. Among those who arrived early were catchers Mike Zunino and Michael Perez; infielders Willy Adames, Joey Wendle, and Matt Duffy; outfielder Avisail Garcia; and pitchers Brent Honeywell Jr., Jalen Beeks, Colin Poche, and Tyler Cloyd.

Both Wendle and Duffy bulked up over the offseason. Duffy added 23 pounds to increase his strength and flexibility, while Wendle told Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) this is nothing unusual — the utility infielder typically comes in a little heavier and stronger and then loses weight as the season progresses.

After being sidelined from late August to the end of the season with a severe left hamstring strain, Perez said he is ready to go, “100 percent.” The catcher is slated to platoon with Zunino, who reportedly looks like former Ray Brad Miller and put on quite the show in batting practice.

Garcia took some swings in the batting cage. He “is bigger and more muscular up close than you think,” writes Topkin.

Cloyd, a late acquisition by the Rays, showed up on Monday. The 31-year-old right-hander has big-league experience with the Phillies (2012-13), Mariners (2017) and Marlins (2018). Cloyd posted a solid 3.78 K/BB ratio across 85-1/3 innings with Triple-A New Orleans in 2018. He, however, has a susceptibility to the long ball which he paired with a low strand rate and a 5.17 ERA overall with the Marlins’ top affiliate.

(Photo Credit: Marc Topkin)

Honeywell added the Jr. to his jersey in honor of his father, Brent Lee Honeywell, who was a minor league hurler.

Not many people can have Jr. on the back of their jersey, Honeywell said. This is a gift my dad gave me — he taught me how to pitch growing up. It adds some flair. I’m not really a flashy person. All the good ones did it, like Griffey.

Noteworthiness

— Soft announcement: X-Rays Spex will be partnering with our buddies, Golden Dinosaurs Vegan Deli, on March 23rd — the weekend before Rays Opening Day — for the release of our newest shirt titled “Oh Boston, Up Yours.” The shirts will be available for sale (and preorder pickup) then, and you can expect some great raffle prizes among other things.

Pencil it in, more information is to come.

Rays officially terminate stadium negotiation window

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The 86 acre Tropicana Field site, home of the Tampa Bay Rays … at least until 2027.

The Tampa Bay Rays formally closed the three-year negotiating window that permitted the team to search both Pinellas and Hillsborough and counties for a new stadium site.

The team sent a two-sentence letter, drafted by Senior Vice President of Administration John P. Higgins, to St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman which was similar to the announcement made by Rays principal owner Stu Sternberg last week at Major League Baseball’s winter meetings in Las Vegas. You can read the text of the letter below.

Dear Mayor Kriseman:

This letter shall serve as the “Decision Notice” [as that term is defined in that certain Memorandum of Understanding between Tampa Bay Rays Baseball Ltd. (the “Rays”) and that City of St. Petersburg (the “City”) dated January 15, 2016 (the “MOU”)]. Please be advised that, as required by Section 9.B. of the MOU, the Rays hereby notify the City that the Rays will not attempt to negotiate the “New Agreements” (as that term is defined in the MOU) or prepare a “Termination Agreement” (as that term is defined in the MOU).

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Very truly yours,

John P. Higgins

The team — which stands to net 50% of the development rights at the Tropicana Field site — remains silent on its future, although there is far more money available for the Rays if they choose to renegotiate in St. Petersburg. In fact, when asked by Noah Pransky (WTSP) if Sternberg would sign away the developments rights at the Trop in July, the answer was pretty clear: “no.”

At the moment, St. Petersburg can contribute $100-million+ in county bed taxes, $75-million+ in county infrastructure funds, and $40-million+ in general revenue funds.

St. Petersburg City Council Chair Charlie Gerdes said it’s time to make sure the team stays here for the long haul.

I don’t have a sense of relief, said Gerdes, who said he’d rather see the team find a long-term home in Pinellas County, but would also rather the team stay in the Tampa Bay area than leave altogether. It’s not time to be relieved, it’s time to make sure they stay here for a long time.

I want them to find a place where they can keep ‘TB’ on their hats for a long time.

The Rays decision to pull out of the Hillsborough County stadium proposal not only marks the second time the team hasn’t seen a proposal through in a decade but has also stoked local sportswriters dire warnings that if you don’t build it, the team will leave. That, however, is patently false in most cases, yet many people continue to believe it. That narrative has been driven home by those sportswriters, not the team which up to now has been very clear that it remains committed to finding a new stadium in the Tampa Bay area.

Neil de Mause (Field of Schemes) attempted to quell the fears of Rays fans, saying:

Look, Tampa Bay is, it has now been well established, a middling MLB market, but that’s still better than most non-MLB markets, since they are non-MLB markets precisely because they can’t even manage to be middling. All things being equal, would Stuart Sternberg make as much money running a team in Montreal as in Tampa Bay? Maybe! Would he make more? Probably not, all things being equal. Could all things not be equal, like if Montreal throws the kind of money at Sternberg that Tampa Bay is so far refusing to? Conceivably, but that didn’t go so well the last time, and the current Montreal mayor sounds at least somewhat skittish about promising piles of cash — saying “We need to evaluate what kind of participation, how we will collaborate, but so far, so good” and “if it comes to asking Montrealers for money, for example to build a stadium, yes, I will ask Montrealers” — so probably won’t to the degree that this is likely to turn into an international bidding war.

It is absolutely important to remember at all times that sports leagues have a monopoly on franchises, and can use that as leverage — but it’s also important to remember that there are only so many cities with the population (and TV eyeballs) to enable a pro sports team to make fistfuls of money, and cities can use that as leverage, too. Romano is right about one thing: This is a business negotiation, and team owners are just trying to maximize their profits (plus maybe their egos), and will use any advantage they can to do so; but there’s nothing stopping elected officials from doing the same. Right now, the Rays and Tampa/St. Pete are still in the staring-each-other-down phase of negotiations, so there are likely at least a few more summers of baseball left before anybody starts storming off and slamming doors.

All of which is to say: Everybody take a deep breath, okay? I know it’s bad for clicks, but it’s good for making sensible policy decisions, and journalism is still about trying to inform people so they can make the world a better place — or at least that’s what the internet tells me.

The Rays previously said they had no interest in getting into the real estate business, yet they commissioned a study on real estate opportunities in Ybor City. It could be assumed that Sternberg could be coming around to the idea of property development since the study also identified downtown St. Petersburg and Mid-Pinellas/Carillon as two of Tampa Bay’s largest areas of growth.

Noteworthiness

— Per Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times), the two-year, $30-million deal with Charlie Morton expected to be announced later this week. The Rays still have to make room on the 40-man roster.

In other news, the race is still on for catcher J.T. Realmuto. The Rays, Astros, Padres, and Dodgers are said to be in on the catcher.

Rays Winter Meetings recap, day one: Cash presser, trade rumors

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Rays manager Kevin Cash addressed the media on the first official day of the 2018 Winter Meetings, in Las Vegas.

Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash addressed the media on a variety of subjects Monday, the first official day of the Winter Meetings.

Here are some highlights from the media session:

The first six questions, unsurprisingly, involved the opener strategy, which the Rays pioneered in 2018. Cash reiterated that the strategy will again be utilized in 2019, and its usage will adjust based on who he has at his disposal.

Part of the reason Cash is sticking with the opener plan is that it worked on the field, and helped Tampa Bay notch its first winning season since 2013. It also helped acclimate some of the younger hurlers to the big leagues.

We watched guys develop and it allowed them an easier path to develop at the big league level which we all know is very challenging, Cash said. When you first introduce your career to the big leagues for us to be able to have young pitchers and put them in different roles, maybe be protective of them a little bit more than that traditional starter, we really saw the benefits of that.

Cash indicated his preference would be to have three starters and two openers, which, ideally, would find the team adding a veteran this off-season — someone who “can really log some innings,” said Cash.

(The opener strategy) puts a lot of pressure on Blake (Snell), It puts pressure on Tyler (Glasnow), their workload. We don’t want those guys to feel that they’ve got to do more than what they’re capable of. And I know Blake (had a) tremendous year. I don’t want him going into a game thinking I’ve got to pitch seven, eight innings so tomorrow’s day works out well.

On the subject of pitching, Cash spoke about Brent Honeywell’s rehab, which is progressing. Even though Honeywell would like to be ready to go by the end of Spring Training, the skipper said a late-May, early-June return to game action would be more reasonable. Ultimately they’ll wait until Honeywell is 100% and be smart about his rehab.

We know how special Brent is, and how valuable and what we view in our organization. But if we’re going to do Brent right, we have to let him go through the rehab process, not rush him. Knowing his personality, he’s going to want to make a club out of spring training. That’s not going to happen. We’ve got to do it right. Our medical staff is second to none. And I know Brent understands that. But he’s a motivated player, and he wants to be a part of something that we all view as pretty special right now.

We’ll do everything we can to calm him down, let him go through the process to make sure he’s a hundred percent healthy and get him through his rehabs and get him to affiliate, get some innings, and hopefully, he is helping us.

What we’ve talked about is some time May, June. But that’s not set in stone. We adjusted really well given the player. We have a bunch of players coming back from Tommy John and they all have different — they all have some good weeks to the rehab and they all have some slowdown weeks. Everybody is different.

Cash was asked about what Jake Bauers needs to do to make the next step after his bout with late-season struggles. Cash countered, saying that Bauers has always dealt with some struggles during his initial promotions, but always rebounded.

You know, I think Jake, of all of our young players that came up, Jake was as talked about as anybody, rightfully so. I think just experience and maturity, he was the youngest guy in the league. He’s been the youngest at every level he’s performed at. And he figured it out. He’s always struggled and started to stabilize himself a little bit and then he gets hot and he puts together some pretty good numbers offensively.

I think that’s what we saw this year at the big league level. He struggled, he probably didn’t have the right time to figure it. It was the right time for Jake to go home and gather his thoughts. But he was a little bit of an anomaly when you watch his at-bats, his swing looked the same, everything looked the same. He wasn’t getting his hits.

And I’m confident, Jake has hit everywhere, he’s going to hit. Defensively, our defense got a heck of a lot better when he was out there. And the confidence that he gave our infielders and the things that he can do around the bag were really impressive. I hope Jake is enjoying himself, letting his mind take a break and come in fresh this Spring training and ready to compete.

Even though the team had “some concern” of injury, Cash said OF Tommy Pham wanted to go play winter ball and was “motivated and driven” to want to make his swing better.

Tommy is a very driven player, very motivated. He was just outstanding for us when he came over. And at the end of the year we sat down and talked and he said he wanted to go play winter ball to work on his swing. And I said, How much more do you need to work? You hit .350 the last two months for us, hit all the home runs. When he was healthy, we had a different lineup because he was in it.

So there was some concern. But he felt there was more tinkering that needed to be done. He plays all out. I asked him, please don’t run into any walls on the Dominican baseball fields. Be careful. We called his manager and asked the same thing. But he’s motivated and driven to get his swing where he wants it. And I think that speaks volumes to a guy that has had the last two or three years of success that he still wants to get better.

You can watch the press conference in its entirety at the Twitter link above.

Noteworthiness

— Per Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times), the Rays continue to have a dialog with free-agent right-hander Charlie Morton. Chaim Bloom and company have also maintained a “running dialogue,” and discussed some parameters, with free-agent DH Nelson Cruz. Cruz’s agent, Bryce Dixon, said the slugger is very much interested and called it “a perfect fit,” although Cruz has 3-4 other teams interested. Because of it, the Rays are looking at other options besides a DH-only bat.

Rays agree to minor league deal with OF Jake Smolinski

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Outfielder Jake Smolinski signed a minor league deal with the Rays on Wednesday. (Photo Credit: Unknown)

The Tampa Bay Rays agreed to a minor league deal with free-agent outfielder Jake Smolinski on Wednesday. Smolinski will likely receive an invitation to big league camp come Spring Training.

Smolinski was outrighted off the 40-man roster last month and elected free agency. The outfielder’s 2018 campaign was cut short by a blood clot in his left calf, hitting just .128 AB/.171 OBP/.205 SLG/.376 OPS across 41 plate appearances, resulting in a mid-May demotion to Triple-A Nashville. Smolinski, however, bounced back and posted a terrific .278 BA/.372 OBP/.548 SLG/.920 OPS line with the Sounds. Be that as it may, he is a career .227 BA/.287 OBP/.357 SLG/.644 OPS hitter in the big leagues. The right-handed hitter has handled southpaws well throughout his Major League career, slashing .282 BA/.351 OBP/.473 SLG/.824 OPS in 276 plate appearances against left-handers, with 11 home runs and 36 RBI.

As it stands, Tampa Bay boasts a 40-man roster that includes outfielders Tommy Pham, Kevin Kiermaier and Austin Meadows, as well as utility options like Brandon Lowe and Daniel Robertson. Smolinski will vie for a bench role in Spring Training, competing against the recently acquired outfielder Guillermo Heredia for a right-handed hitting outfield spot on the 2019 roster. If he doesn’t break camp with the team, it is foreseeable that Smolinski would head to Triple-A Durham as depth in case of injury.

Rays complete Mike Zunino deal

On Thursday, the Rays completed the five-player deal which netted catcher Mike Zunino and outfielder Guillermo Heredia and sent Mallex Smith to Seattle. We wrote about the deal yesterday.

Rays trade Mallex Smith to Seattle for Mike Zunino and Guillermo Heredia

The Rays also acquired minor league southpaw Michael Plassmeyer, yet lost outfielder Jake Fraley, in the trade

Steve Adams (MLB Trade Rumors) wrote about Plassmeyer, saying:

Plassmeyer, 22, was the Mariners’ fourth-round pick just five months ago in the 2018 draft, which aligns with Dipoto’s willingness to deal from his most recent draft classes. He traded catcher David Banuelos, his 2017 fifth-rounder, to the Twins last December and also flipped 2017 fourth-rounder Seth Elledge to the Cardinals this past summer. Plassmeyer, Mizzou product, posted a ridiculous 44-to-4 K/BB ratio through 24 innings in Short-Season Class-A ball this summer.

Jeff Sullivan (FanGraphs) broke down the trade, calling it a win for the Rays:

You can see an argument favoring either side of this, but I find the Rays’ to be more convincing.

Rays trade Mallex Smith to Seattle for Mike Zunino and Guillermo Heredia

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Mike Zunino, the Rays new starting catcher. Photo Credit: Unknown)

The Tampa Bay Rays and Seattle Mariners made the first significant trade of the 2018-19 offseason, sending outfielder Mallex Smith to the Pacific Northwest in exchange for catcher Mike Zunino and outfielder Guillermo Heredia. Tampa Bay could also include an additional lower-level prospect in the agreement, writes Ryan Divish (Seattle Times). The deal is pending medical reviews, so nothing is official just yet.

Zunino, 27, is projected by MLB Trade Rumors to earn $4.2-Million through arbitration this winter and is under team control until 2020, while Smith is not yet arbitration-eligible after narrowly avoiding Super-Two status, and is controlled through 2022.

The deal marks the second time in the past two seasons that Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto has acquired Smith, although his original tenure with the Mariners was measured in hours. Dipoto traded for Smith from the Braves in a deal that sent Luiz Gohara to Atlanta. Yet Smith was promptly flipped to Tampa Bay in order to acquire Drew Smyly. Unfortunately for Seattle, Smyly injured his arm in Spring Training 2017, an injury that ultimately required Tommy John surgery before he ever threw a pitch in Seattle.

Zunino brings about pole to pole power and premium defensive skills, yet, he pairs those highly vaunted attributes with a blemished 34.2% career strikeout rate and questionable on-base skills. He’s coming off a disappointing 2018 campaign in which he slashed .201 BA/.251 OBP/.406 SLG/.657 OPS, albeit with 20 homers. Yet he is just a season removed from a .251 BA/.339 OBP/.509 SLG/.848 OPS campaign with a career-high 25 homers. Over the last three seasons, Zunino has performed to a combined .223 BA/.300 OBP/.462 SLG/.762 OPS line with 57 homers across 1032 plate appearances.

As Steve Adams (MLB Trade Rumors) notes, Zunino’s average and OBP might not jump out, but when adjusting for the Mariners’ pitcher-friendly home park, that level of production rates at about seven percent better than the league-average hitter and nearly 20 percent better than that of a league-average catcher (by measure of OPS and wRC+).

Defensively, Zunino is a strong throwing/framing catcher with more power than just about any catcher in the game, Wilson Ramos precluded. He threw out a career-high 35% of would-be base stealers last season, and he continually ranks among the league leaders in terms of pitch framing — boasting an 8.5 oStr% (tied for 14th behind John Ryan Murphy) and 27 +Calls according to Stat Corner.

The acquisition could push Michael Perez from a starting role to a backup job, although Perez was impressive in his brief Major League promotion last season — hitting .284 BA/.304 OBP/.392 SLG/.696 OPS with a homer and five doubles, while also throwing out 29% of would-be base stealers (17 total). In all likelihood, Zunino and Perez, who has received good defensive ratings throughout his minor league career, will battle it out for the starting position in Spring Training. Whatever the case, the platoon gives Tampa Bay a couple of solid defenders behind the plate.

Heredia, 28, is similar to Smith in that he’s a speedy outfielder (ranking 55/55 in speed according to FanGraphs), with minimal power, who is capable of handling all three outfield positions. He, however, has amassed poor defensive ratings in centerfield (-9 DRS in 2018), though he grades out above-average in the outfield corners. He hit .236 BA/.318 OBP/.342 SLG/.660 OPS with the Mariners across 337 plate appearances last season.

Heredia is not likely to get the bulk of the reps in the outfield, which should feature Tommy Pham, Kevin Kiermaier and Austin Meadows as starters. He, however, could give the Rays a nice bench option, or depth at Triple-A since he has multiple minor league options remaining.